Pro Patria ban after Boateng insults

Pro Patria, the lower league club whose supporters prompted Kevin-Prince Boateng to walk off due to racist abuse, will play a game behind closed doors.

Pro Patria, the lower league club whose supporters prompted Kevin-Prince Boateng to walk off due to racist abuse (see video below), will play a game behind closed doors.

The incident occurred during a midweek friendly between Milan and Pro Patria at their tiny stadium in BustoArsizio, an industrial town between Varese and Milan.

Boateng walked off in protest at reiterated racist insults from a small section of the fans and captain MassimoAmbrosini took the rest of the team off too, abandoning the game.

It has now been confirmed that the Federation’s Disciplinary Committee punished Pro Patria for the incident by forcing them to play their next Lega Pro home game behind closed doors.

The ruling also states that if racist abuse is heard again at their matches, there will be even harsher punishment.

The note from the Disciplinary Committee suggested “the behaviour of the Pro Patria supporters appeared to be particularly serious as it was a clear manifestation of racist discrimination during a friendly game, so there was no sporting tension or spirit of competition.

“These are not to be considered justification of course, but can be seen as attenuating circumstances when working out punishment.

“This sanction for incidents of this nature is not only punishment, but also a preventative measure to avoid a repeat incident. In the current season, Pro Patria had already been fined €5,000 for incidents of this nature and has proved to be inefficient.”